Developmental Coordination Disorder

10 Apr Developmental Coordination Disorder

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) impacts approximately 5% of our population. This means about 1 child in every class is affected. DCD describes children who are significantly clumsy, fall a lot and struggle with basic motor skills. It does not include children whose condition can be described by a different diagnosis such as cerebral palsy. DCD significantly impacts children’s lives, impacting their ability to participate in sport and academic achievement. Sport is essential for developing social skills, so children can miss out on key opportunities to develop them. As a result, children tend to withdraw from sport which can lead to poor cardiovascular health and obesity. Therefore, it is vital that we provide these children with skills to allow increased participation throughout the community. 

Physiotherapists use a variety of different interventions to help your child. Goal-Oriented Task-Specific practice has significant evidence to support its use in children with DCD. This practice involves goal setting with children, parents and therapists. The using the specific tasks as part of this goal to guide therapy and intervention. For example, if your child’s goal is to play soccer, we can work on the coordination of activities such as kicking and dribbling that ball, key skills used in soccer. These skills will also help to develop balance and strength. Thereby having a positive impact on overall gross motor achievement. In addition, physiotherapists will work through motor tasks and problem solving with your children. This will allow children to learn how to work through a motor task independently. 

DCD is severely underrecognized in our society. The impact if can have on children is profound and it does not go away into adulthood. Children with developmental delays under the age of 7 may be able to access funding through the NDIS early intervention framework. Unfortunately, DCD is not funded in older children. 

Additionally, DCD regularly occurs with comorbidities including Autism and ADHD. However, for these children to have a co-diagnosis of DCD their motor coordination needs to be significantly below their peers. 

If you feel your child may have DCD, please do not hesitate to book an appointment with one of our physiotherapists to discuss.